Author: Lara Chatinian

                                        Thursday, 


Ruling Party Raps Armenian Church

        • Anush Mkrtchian

Armenia – Catholicos Garegin II blesses worshippers after Easter mass at St. 
Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral, Yerevan, April 9, 2023.


A pro-government lawmaker hit out at the Armenian Apostolic Church on Thursday 
after its supreme head, Catholicos Garegin II, lamented “deepening intolerance” 
in Armenia and defended his earlier calls for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s 
resignation.

Garegin implied earlier in the day that the “fatherly appeal” made by him in the 
wake of the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh is still valid.

“Sadly, we can see that the situation in our country remains perilous and 
worrying,” he told several media outlets in a rare interview. “Also, wrong and 
unacceptable statements are made … with regard to the status of Artsakh 
(Karabakh). Also worrying is the disunity, discord and spirit of intolerance 
deepening among our people, and in this sense we have a lot of work to do.”

Garegin appeared to allude to Pashinian’s latest comments on the Karabakh 
conflict condemned by the Armenian opposition and Karabakh’s leaders as 
pro-Azerbaijani.

Armenia - Maria Karapetian, a parliament deputy from the ruling Civil Contract 
party, July 27, 2022.

Maria Karapetian, a parliament deputy representing Pashinian’s Civil Contract 
party, responded by accusing the Armenian Church of meddling in politics and 
refusing to accept the supremacy of the state authorities.

“Maybe it would be a better solution not to talk about any political topic at 
all and to talk only about spiritual topics,” she said on the parliament floor.

Karapetian also denounced Garegin’s homily read out during the Easter mass at 
Yerevan’s Saint Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral on April 9.

In that message, Garegin expressed concern at what he described as the erosion 
of “national-spiritual security of our people” and threats to “centuries-old 
sanctified traditions and our value system.”

“Indeed, when justice and truth cease to be the core of our undertakings and 
activities in state and public life, we will continue to face manifestations of 
pilatism,” he told hundreds of worshippers in what looked like a thinly veiled 
attack on the government.

Armenia – Catholicos Garegin II leads Easter mass at St. Gregory the Illuminator 
Cathedral, Yerevan, April 9, 2023.

The ancient church, to which the vast majority of Armenians belong, enjoyed 
strong government support until the 2018 “velvet revolution” that brought 
Pashinian to power. His frosty relationship with Garegin has increasingly 
deteriorated since then.

Garegin and other senior clergymen joined the Armenian opposition in calling for 
Pashinian’s resignation following Armenia’s defeat in the 2020 war. The prime 
minister openly attacked them when he campaigned for the June 2021 parliamentary 
elections.

Pashinian and members of his government have since boycotted Christmas and 
Easter liturgies led by Garegin. They have also effectively excluded the 
Catholicos from official ceremonies to mark major national holidays and 
remembrance days.




Armenia, India, Iran Mull Transport Corridor


Armenia - Senior Armenian, Indian and Iranian diplomats meet in Yerevan, April 
20, 2023.


Senior diplomats from Armenia, India and Iran explored the possibility of 
creating a new transnational transport corridor during first-ever trilateral 
talks held in Yerevan on Thursday.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry said that they discussed “issues relating to 
regional communication routes” and broader “prospects for trilateral cooperation 
in various fields.”

“The parties agreed to continue the trilateral consultations aimed at closer 
cooperation,” it said in a statement. No other details of the talks were 
reported.

Meeting in Yerevan in October 2021, Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and his 
Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar called for an Armenian-Indian 
transport link that would pass through Iran and its Chabahar cargo port in 
particular.

India has built and operates two terminals at the Gulf of Oman port to bypass 
Pakistan in cargo traffic with Iran, Afghanistan and central Asian countries.

The Indian government has also proposed Chabahar’s inclusion in the 
International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) project initiated by 
Russia, Iran and India in 2000. The project envisages a 7,200-kilometer-long 
network of maritime and terrestrial routes stretching from Mumbai to Moscow.

Mirzoyan suggested after the 2021 talks with Jaishankar that Indian companies 
use Chabahar for cargo shipments to not only Armenia but also neighboring 
Georgia, Russia and even Europe. According to Indian media reports, an Armenian 
government delegation promoted this idea when it visited New Delhi in early 
March.

Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security 
Council, reportedly backed the ambitious project during a July 2022 trip to 
Yerevan.

Armenia has long maintained a cordial relationship with Iran and has deepened 
its ties with India in the last few years, notably through a series of contracts 
signed with Indian arms manufacturers. All three nations have reported 
significant increases in their trade with Russia since the Russian invasion of 
Ukraine and the resulting Western sanctions against Moscow.




Pashinian Responds To Karabakh Criticism

        • Astghik Bedevian

Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian addresses the National Assembly, April 
18, 2023.


Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian complained on Thursday that his statements are 
often misunderstood by Nagorno-Karabakh’s leaders after they accused him of 
effectively siding with Azerbaijan.

Pashinian made clear on Tuesday that his administration unequivocally recognizes 
Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. He also said he is ready to sign an 
Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal that would commit the two South Caucasus states 
to recognizing each other’s Soviet-era borders.

In a joint statement issue on Wednesday, the five political groups represented 
in the Karabakh parliament said Pashinian’s remarks are “consistent with the 
position of official Baku.” They again accused him of undermining the Karabakh 
Armenians’ right to self-determination which was for decades supported by 
international mediators.

Responding to the criticism, Pashinian said: “We need to delve into issues 
because if we don’t thoroughly understand their essence we will always make 
mistakes and we already did. This is what my statement was all about. I respect 
and appreciate the views of Artsakh’s National Assembly but what I said is a 
different thing.”

“They usually misunderstand me [in Stepanakert] and it’s possible that they 
misunderstood me this time as well,” he told reporters.

A Karabakh opposition figure, Davit Galstian, dismissed the explanation when he 
spoke to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.

“Our self-determination was formalized by the [Karabakh] Supreme Council in 1991 
and Armenia’s authorities must reckon with that and at least not relegate the 
Karabakh Armenians’ self-determination to the background,” he said. “Yet in his 
speeches Nikol Pashinian tries to … trample underfoot our right to 
self-determination.”

Karabakh leaders have repeatedly criticized Pashinian ever since he signaled in 
April 2022 his readiness to “lower the bar” on Karabakh’s status acceptable to 
Armenia. Pashinian and his entourage also stopped making references to 
Karabakh’s self-determination in their public statements.

Armenian opposition leaders have been even more critical of Pashinian’s latest 
pronouncements.




Oskanian Also Rejects Pashinian’s Claims About Karabakh Peace Plans

        • Anush Mkrtchian

Armenia - Former Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian speaks at a conference of his 
ORO opposition alliance in Yerevan, 25Feb2017.


Former Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian has joined the Armenian opposition in 
accusing Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian of grossly misrepresenting international 
peace proposals on Nagorno-Karabakh made before the 2020 war with Azerbaijan.

Speaking in the Armenian parliament earlier this week, Pashinian again claimed 
that the so-called Madrid Principles jointly drafted by the United States, 
Russia and France essentially recognized Karabakh as a part of Azerbaijan.

Opposition leaders and other critics brushed aside his claims, saying that 
Pashinian is simply trying to justify his readiness to agree to the restoration 
Azerbaijani control over Karabakh.

They argue that the framework peace accord, originally put forward in 2007 and 
repeatedly modified in the following decade, on the contrary upheld the Karabakh 
Armenians’ right to self-determination. The latter would be able to determine 
the dispute region’s internationally recognized status in a future referendum.

Oskanian, who served as Armenia’s foreign minister from 1998-2008, made the same 
point in a 30-minute video message posted on Facebook late on Wednesday. He 
portrayed the Madrid Principles as a key diplomatic achievement of the Armenian 
side squandered and renounced by Pashinian.

Oskanian insisted that the U.S., Russian and French mediators “effectively 
recognized that Karabakh is not a part of Azerbaijan and that the people of 
Karabakh must decide their future through a referendum.”

“I really don’t understand Nikol Pashinian’s logic here,” he said. “Maybe Nikol 
Pashinian should be asked to explain the logic behind his desire to sign a peace 
treaty with Azerbaijan based on mutual recognition of the two countries’ 
territorial integrity.”

Pashinian likewise alleged last October that the peace plans largely accepted by 
former Presidents Robert Kocharian and Serzh Sarkisian called for Armenia’s 
“capitulation” to Azerbaijan. The Russian Foreign Ministry bluntly denied 
similar claims made by him in 2021.




Opposition Lawmakers Forced Out Of Armenian Parliament


Armenia - Security guards use force against oppositon deputies occupying the 
parliament rostrum, .


A group of opposition lawmakers were forcibly removed from Armenia’s parliament 
on Thursday after occupying its podium in protest against Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian’s latest statements on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The incident happened after one of those lawmakers, Taguhi Tovmasian, refused to 
leave the rostrum after finishing her speech during a heated debate on the 
parliament floor.

“I will not allow you to again spread lies, cast doubt on Artsakh’s being 
Armenian or the history of the Armenian people from the country’s number one 
podium,” declared Tovmasian, who heads the parliament committee on human rights.

“Enough is enough. Sober up and accept your share of responsibility,” she said, 
urging like-minded members of the National Assembly to join her protest.

About a dozen other opposition deputies heeded her appeal. Parliament speaker 
Alen Simonian responded by ordering security officers to force the 
oppositionists out of the parliament auditorium.

The officers working for the State Protection Service (SPS), an agency providing 
bodyguards to Pashinian and other high-ranking state officials, executed the 
order after a 4-minute scuffle with the mostly female deputies. The SPS chief, 
Sargis Hovannisian, was on hand to oversee the use of force condemned by the two 
opposition blocs represented in the parliament.

“They are now not allowing us to return to our workplace,” Tovmasian told 
reporters after the chaotic scene. “This is a blatant violation of the law, 
human rights and deputies’ rights.”

The debate, which began on Tuesday, was meant to center on the implementation of 
the Armenian government’s five-year policy program approved by the parliament’s 
pro-government majority in 2021. Pashinian’s remarks on the conflict with 
Azerbaijan proved to be its main focus.

Pashinian made clear that his administration unequivocally recognizes 
Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and is also ready to sign an 
Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal that would commit the two South Caucasus states 
to recognizing each other’s Soviet-era borders.

Opposition leaders portrayed this as further proof of their claims that 
Pashinian is helping Baku regain full control over Karabakh. Karabakh’s main 
political factions also denounced the Armenian premier.


Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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